Antifriction bearing



March 4 1924., L48507 J. F. OCONNOR ANTIFRICTION BEARING Filed Deo. 27, 1921 WM5@ Inf/@afar Jarm' (an/wr Patented Mar. l, i924.

lpddt? JOHN E.. QCONNOR, 01E' CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO WILLIAM H. MINEFI, 0F CRAZY, NEW YORK..

ANTIFRICTION BEARING.

Application led. December 27, 1921.

To all whom t may concern.'

Be it known that I, JOHN F. OCONNOR, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county-of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement, in Antifriction Bearings, of which the following is a full, clear, concise, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification. f

This invention relates to improvements in anti-friction bearings.

One object of the invention is to provide an anti-friction bearing, primarily intended for use as a side bearing for railway cars, in which the parts are compactly arranged and at the same time allow for an unusually large amount of travel Another object of the invention is to provide an anti-friction bearing possessing the characteristics above indicated and wherein the parts are automatically self-centering under the niuence of gravity after each actuation and upon removal of the actuating load. Y

In the drawing forming a part of this specification, Figure 1 is a vertical, ylongitudinal section of my improved anti-friction bearing showing the same as applied between the body and truck bolsters of a railway car, the section corresponding to a plane parallel to the length of the car. And Figuresv 2 and 3 are vertical, transverse, sectional views corresponding to the section lines 2--2 and 3 3. of Figure .1, respectively, and upon a somewhat larger scale.

In saiddrawing, 10 ldenotes the upper portion of a truck bolsterand 11 the under side of a corresponding opposed bodybolster. In the drawing, I have shown the improved bearing applied to the. truck bolster.

As shown, the improved bearing comprises, broadly, -a hollow base casting or member A; a pair of rolling anti-friction elements B-B; a horizontally movable bridge plate C; and a supplemental rolling anti-friction element D.

The base member or casting A is of more or less elongated hollow box-like form having a bottom wall 12, parallel spaced vertically extending side walls 13-13, and rounded end walls 111-14. As will b e understood by those skilled in the art, suitable ears or lugs will be provided on the casting A at the bottom by which it may be riveted Serial No. 525,014.

.or otherwise rigidly secured to the bolster casting. Preferably also the side walls 13 are provided with Ventilating openings 1515 at the ends or at other desired points.

The two anti-friction rolling elements B-B are of like construction and each is preferably in the form of a rocker of approXimately triangular outlines in end elevation. Each of said elements B is provided on the bottom thereof with an arcuate bearing surface 16 adapted to roll back kand forth on the horizontal bearing sur- ,rise whenever the element B is rolled to either side of its central normal position, thus making the elements B self-centering vunder the influence of gravity.

The bridge plate C is formed at each end thereof with horizontally extending webs 19-,19 vresting upon the respective elements B-B which, as clearly shown in Figure 1, are longitudinally spaced and located near the ends of the casting A. Intermediate ythe horizontal web sections 19, the bridge plate C is provided with a lower or depressed horizontally extending bearing plate sec- Ytion 2O united tothe web sections 19 by rounded webs 21-21. 'Ihe horizontal bearing section20 is located fairly close to the bottom wall 12 of the base casting A and provides a support for the anti-friction ele- 4ment D. The latter is of the same form as vthe elements B and need not be specifically described except to say that the upper bearing surface 22 thereof is disposed in a plane slightly above the plane of the web sections 19 so that said element D is adapted to have rolling contact with the opposed bolster 11. The bridge plate C is suitably strengthened esA by side walls 23-23 opposite the place all lowed for the element D and by strengthening ribs 24-24 at the ends of the bridge plate C. l

To prevent bodily shifting without the proper rolling action, of either of the elements B and alsoA of the element D, the base casting A and the bridge plate C are provided with suitable positioning teeth or knobs E25-25 cooperable with corresponding recesses 26-26 formed in the und-er Side of the respective elements B and D. To prevent bodily shifting of the plate C with respect to the elements B, corresponding teeth or knobs 27 are formed on the under side of the web sections 19, the saine engaging in suitable recesses 2S formed in the upper endsof the elements B. To prevent the. elements vB from becoming disassembled from the base casting A, each element B has a pin 29 extended therethrough, the ends of said pins working in suitable arcuate slots 30, provided in the side walls 13 of the base casting. Similarly, the rolling element D is prevented from disarrangement from the bridge plate C.

The parts are shown in normal inoperative position, that is, with a slight clearance between the opposed bearing surfaces of the body bolster and element D. When the side bearing is brought into play and the body bolster moved toward the left with respect to the truck bolster 10, it is evident that the element D will be rolled toward the left on the bottom bearing wall 20 of the bridge piece. Furthermore, due to the pressure transmitted to the bridge plate C through the element D, the bridge plate C will be moved correspondingly toward the left, thus rolling upon ythe elements B and the latter in turn rolling upon the bottom wall 12 of the base casting A. As will be understood by those skilled 'in the art, the element D may be rolled its fulll distance before movement of the bridge plate C and the remainder of the action taken up by the plate C rolling on andwith the elements B or, vice versa, the first action may'take placeby and between the bridge plate C and the elements B to the limit of their relative movement and the final action by the element D or a combination of the two actions mentioned. Upon removal of the actuating force, the elements B will automatically center themselves under the influence of gravity, thus returning the bridge plate C to central position and similarly the element D will center itself with respect to the bridge plate C. From the preceding description, it will be seen that I provide for an unusually large amount of travel since, for any given size of rocker element D and given length of movement thereof, individually, l obtain in my bearing twice the allowable length of travel permitted each of the elements B and D. This greater amount of travel is obtained without unduly extending the height or length of the bearing.

VI have herein shown and described what I now 'consider the preferred mannerof carrying out invention but the same isl merely illustrative and l contemplate all changes and modifications that come within the scope of the claims appended hereto.

I claim:

1. ln an anti-friction bearing, the combination with a base member having a bearing surface; of a pair of spaced rolling anti-friction elements on said bearing surface; a bridge plate supported on said elements and adapted to roll bacll and forth thereon and therewith; a supplementalI anti-friction element supported on said bridge plate and adapted to roll thereon, said last named antifriction element having' its effective top bearing surface located above the bridge plate and thereby adapted to cooperate with an opposed bearing surface; and means for limiting the rolling` movement of said anti-friction elements.

2. In an anti-friction bearing, the combination with a base member having a bearing surface; of a pair of rolling anti-friction elements on said bearing surface; a bridge plate supported on said elements and adapted to roll baclr and forth thereon and therewith, said bridge plate having a depressed bearing plate section intermediate said elements; and a supplemental anti-friction element supported on the bearing plate section of said bridge plate and adapted to roll thereon and therewith, all of said anti-friction elements being alined in the direction of their rolling movement.

3. In an anti-friction bearing, the combination with a base member having a bearing surface; of a pair of spaced rolling antifriction elements on said bearing surface; a bridge plate supported on said elements and adapted to roll back and forth thereon and therewith; and a supplemental anti-friction element supported on said bridge plate and adapted to roll thereon, said last named antifriction element having its effective top bearing surface located above the bridge plate and thereby adapted to cooperate with an opposed bearing surface, all of said antifriction elements being self-centering under the influence of gravity.

4. ln an anti-friction bearing, the combination with a base member having a bearing surface; of a pair of rolling anti-friction elements on said bearing surface; a bridge plate supported on said elements and adapted to roll back and forth thereon and therewith, said bridge plate having a depressed bearing plate section intermediate said elements; and a supplemental anti-friction element supported on the bearing plate section of said bridge plate and adapted to roll thereon and therewith, all of said antifriction elements being self-centering under the influence of gravity,

5. ln an anti-friction bearing, the combination with a base member having a bea-ring surface; of a pair of spaced rolling anti-friction elements on said bearing surface.; a bridge plate supported on said elements and adapted to roll back and forth thereon and therewith; a supplemental antifriction element supported on said bridge plate and adapted to roll thereon; said last named anti-friction element having its effective top bearing surface located above the bridge plate and thereby adapted to cooperate with an opposed bearing surface; and cooperable means on said base member and each of the anti-friction elements of the first named pair and on the bridge plate and the last named anti-friction element, respectively, to prevent bodily shifting of said anti-friction elements with respect to their supporting member.

6. in an anti-friction bearing, the combination with a base member having a bearing surface; of a pair of spaced rolling anti-friction elements on said bearing surface; a bridge plate supported on said elements and adapted to roll back and forth thereon and therewith; a supplemental antifriction element supported on said bridge plate and adapted to roll thereon, said last named anti-friction element having its effective top bearing surface located above the bridge plate and thereby adapted to cooperate with an opposed bearing surface; means for retaining said pair of anti-friction elements assembled with said base member; and means for retaining said third named anti-friction element assembled with the bridge plate.

7. In a side bearing for railway cars, the combination with a. hollow elongated base casting adapted to be secured to a bolster and provided with a bottom horizontally extending bearing surface; of a pair of spaced anti-friction self-centering gravity rockers within said base casting and adapted to roll on said bearing surface thereof; a bridge plate supported at its ends upon said rockers and having the central portion thereof extended downwardly between the rockers; said depressed central portion of the bridge plate providing a bea-ring surface; a self-centering gravity rocker mounted on said bearing surface of the `bridge plate, the upper bearing surface of the rocker extending above the top surface of the bridge plate; and means for preventing bodily shifting of the first named pair of anti-friction elements with respect. to the base casting.

n witness that l claim the foregoing I have hereunto subscribed my 'name this 8th day of December 1921.

JOHN F. OCONNOR.

Witnesses:

UNA C. GRIGSBY, ANN BAKER. 

